Ich und Kaminski (Me and Kaminski)

by Daniel Kehlmann

Sebastian Zöllner, wanna be bigshot art critic and/or writer, agrees with a publisher to write a biography on one Manuel Kaminski.

Kaminski is a bit a recluse and frail. His career as a painter didn't really take off until he started to go blind. Or did he? There are a few eerie moments throughout when Zöllner gets the feeling that Kaminski can, indeed, see. Anyway, the biography is the plan. For the book to become a success, however, Kaminski would have to die first. Of course, Zöllner doesn't mentioned that to the old man.

The painter is more a means to an end than an actual subject of interest to Zöllner, who is more concerned with how he looks and is conceived in any situation. He bursts into Kaminski's house a day early, inviting himself to an ongoing gathering. Shortly after, he pays the housekeeper to visit her sister, so that he can be alone with the painter on his terms rather than the painter's caretaker, his daughter.

The title of the book, putting the narrator first and the artist second was not chosen so by accident. Zöllner is arrogant and has no scruples to go through the painter's personal documents and simply take him on a roadtrip to see Kaminski's former lover, who the old men thought had died a long time ago.

Also, he is concerned about his hairline. In the beginning of the story, a conductur Zöllner had been rather rude to told him he's going bold and even though Zöllner is convinced that he is not and the conducter was just being rude in return, he checks for signs of boldness every time he looks into the mirror, only to immediately dismiss the notion.

Very short, but very good read. My favorite Kehlmann (my third) so far.

7/10

So Many Ways to Begin

by Jon McGregor

This is my second try with a Jon McGregor book. The previous one, If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things - though beautifully written - didn't really do anything for me. It elegantly told of some terrible tragedy that many had witnessed, but was constantly beating around the bush. I assume that in the end we learn what exactly happened but I didn't read that book long enough to ever get to that point.

With that experience behind me, my expectations for So Many Ways to Begin were not too high. I am glad to announce that I finished it. And gladly. The writing, again, is beautiful and elegant. The story is that of David Carter, who wants to work in a museum, or better yet, own his own theater. His live could be perfectly ordinary, with a wife that has bouts of depression, an almost affair, a daughter he adores, and a job lost. It is, however, burdened by the fact that one day, quite unexpectedly, learns that he is not his parent's son.

A family friend, whose mind is quickly declining from dementia, one day casually mentions that some Irish girl gave birth to him in 1945 and disappeared. His mother decided to keep him and raise him as her own. Not even his father, conveniently off at war, knew and thought the boy his. His mother's explanation is simply that she missed the right moment to tell him and thought that it would be easier for him if he didn't know. And it might have been.

As soon as he knows, however, he starts gathering clues that might help him find his real mother. And this is where the book is really clever. The entirety is told through objects, dated, that head anecdotes from his life and his wife's life back in Scotland (which is much sadder than David's really).

There comes a point, when he thinks he has found his mother. It appears almost too good to be true. And so it is.

Lives were changed and moved by much smaller clues, chance meetings, overheard conversations, the trips and stumbles which constantly alter and readjust the course of things, history made by a million fractional moments too numerous to calibrate or observe or record. the real story, he knew, was more complicated than anything he could gather together in a pair of photo albums and a scrapbook and drive across the country to lay out on a table somewhere. The whole story would take a lifetime to tell. But what he had would be a start, he thought, a way to begin. What he had would be enough to at least say, here, these are a few of the things which have happened to me, while you weren't there. This is a small part of how it's been. You don't need to guess any longer, you don't need to imagine or wonder or dream. This is a small part of the truth.

7/10

Mr. Vertigo

by Paul Auster

Mr. Vertigo was one of those books that I read a long time ago and I couldn't remember a single detail beyond the obvious one - a boy being taught how to fly. This, then, is a re-read.

The boy in question is Walter Rawley, an orphan living with his aunt and uncle, who don't really care that much about him. He is more of a burden than anything else. So one day, when he meets a mysterious stranger named Master Yehudi, who makes the promise of teaching him to fly, the replacement family gives him away eagerly for a little money in exchange (I assume).

The teaching part is non-traditional and Walter tries to escape this new life more than once, but always ends up right back in the arms of the master, who always shows up exactly where Walter fled to. The two lose the two people closest to family that they have, a Native American housekeeper/cook and a young black boy that the master has been teaching in other things rather than flying. The two are killed by the Ku Klux Klan with Walter and the master looking on.

Eventually, Walter does fly and becomes a sensation. The two tour from town to town and triumph to triumph until one day, shortly before their biggest show yet in New York City, Walter starts having these splitting headaches right after his flying act. The master realizes that this is an effect of the onset of puberty and closes shop.

Although new ideas are popping up right away, the master himself appears to be suffering and becoming sicker by the day. On their day to Hollywood and the new future, the past in form of Walter's uncle shows up (for the second time in the book, this one being the devestating one).

The rest of the book tells of Walter as an adult and his rise within a criminal organisation and encounters with people from the past.

Really good, but - much like Woody Allen in film - Paul Auster and his stories belong in New York City.

6/10

Everything Changes

Long time no update.

As you see from the column on the right, the currently reading status has been unchanged for a while. Yes, I am still reading The Goldfinch. By now I have handed the trade paperback on to a friend and have gotten an ebook edition of it. See, the actual book is just so heavy, it was no fun reaing for that fact (and that fact alone, the book is brilliant). Even now, it is still a massive thing and it takes some time to get through.

Anyway, I have been known to read more than one book at a time and usually read a smaller volume that will comfortable fit my handbag. This was a few week ago Everything Changes, which flew all the way to New York City and back with, without getting much attention (so much to do!). I did, however, finish it a while back and here are my (admitedly vague) recollections of it.

by Jonathan Tropper

It's another family crisis. Zachary King, oldes of three sons, lives a seemingly normal life and is soon to be married. If only he wasn't so hung up on his late best friend's widow Tamara. Really, his life isn't all that normal.

He lives with a friend in New York without paying rent. This friend of his made a pretty penny before the software bubble burst and got out in time, so now he spends his days on the couch watching TV.

Zach's father has dropped off the face of the earth, having left the family long before when his mother finally caught him cheating red-handed and used the photographic evidence as a family Christmas card. The boys are all upset and took their time in understanding that their father is not as reliable and now, finally, definitely changing for good and become a responsible parent.

Zach is pissed off, so is his little brother who turns his disgust into punk rock songs. His other brother is mentally challenged and does not quite have the same grasp on life as the rest of the world does.

In the midst of his anxiety over his impending nuptials and his adoration for Tamara, his father Norm swoops back into their lives to reconnect with everyone and make amends. And if that wasn't enough to prompt a sudden life change for Zach, he also started peeing blood and obviously expects the worst.

Then his life - helped along by Zach himself starts to unravel. And as the titel suggests, everything does change. Obviously he is not going to marry beautful hope, his medial worries keep gnawing on him and his fathers keeps sticking around for the longest time, no matter how unwanted his presence is.

In the end, he does disappear again and his motives for reappearing in the first place were very selfish in a way. Turns out he has another young son, this one merely four years old that he hopes his former family can provide for.

As usual with Jonathan Tropper books, the family is as unhinged as they come and the read is thouroughly enjoyable.

7/10

Mr Mercedes

by Stephen King

In Stephen King's latest, the evil forces are very much human. Nothing in Mr. Mercedes is out of this world. The killer is the guy next door. He fixes your computer and sells you ice cream.

The stories that are set in the reals of the possible rather than the impossible are somehow more upsetting. This already worked for me in Gerald's Game (aka nobody's favorite book by King), in which also nothing happened that could happen to anyone, anywhere, any day.

The killer, Brady, is a computer-savvy Mama's boy, that one day decided to drive into a group of people and was more surprised than anyone else that he actually got away with it. While his case is on the track to going cold, he contacts the now retired detective that worked it, who decides to take it on himself.

Stephen King, at one point in the book, actually references himself. Such is his cultural stance, that he can easily get away with it without sounding pretentious. Because, when he refers to one of his own stories, everyone actually does now what he is talking about.

'Creepy as hell. You ever see that TV movie about the clown in the sewer?'

Even though this will not become anyone's favorite Stephen King's book ever, it is solid work. Far from his best, but on par with any mystery put out. Basically, we witness Brady trying to plot going out with a final big bang - preferably before he goes to pieces.

Te scariest idea of the thing is when Brady decides to kill the dog of the detective's friend. Which goes horribly wrong, but luckily not for the dog and his family.

Entertaining. Just not as much as Stephen King books can be.

The truth is darkness, and the only thing that matters is making a statement before one enters it. Cutting the skin of the world and leaving a scar. That's all history is, after all: scar tissue.

6/10

The Fry Chronicles

It has been a while since I last updated this blog. There a several reasons for this. For one, I got stuck watching Masterchef Australia (current and previous seasons) and I got even more stuck reading Donna Tartt's latest The Goldfinch. Not that it is a bad book, it isn't. It is just so fucking big and heavy in hand that I grew physically tired of holding it in my hand and the pace of the story (not too fast) does not reel me in deeply enough for me to ignore that fact. And then, of course, there is the World Cup in Brazil to follow. So many ways to get sidetracked.

But, luckily, I do take the public transport to work and the only valid means of entertainment is reading. For this, however, the aforementioned Goldfinch is much too heavy. Therefore,  a smaller volume that fits my handbag has to do for my trips. 

And this has been it for the past few weeks....

by Stephen Fry

The Fry Chronicles are the second autobiography by Stephen Fry. The first, Moab Is My Washpot, covered his childhood and troubled teenage years. This now deals with his time at university and his first steps into the entertainment business.

Does one need to have read Moab before taking on the Chronicles? Not really. One should mostly have read Moab because it is entertaining and sweet and, yes, heartbreaking at times...

Fry is a rather hapless fellow and just plain likable. He forever apologizes for his success and stresses that his talent is inferior to many of the people that he came up with. His group of friends and contemporaries does include some of the biggest names in film and comedy - Emma Thompson, Rowan Atkinson, Douglas Adams, and his long-time partner in crime, Hugh Laurie, to name but a few. Fry does seem to stick out like a sore thumb and still doesn't appear to have grasped what people see in him and why he would deserve the success he has had for a few decades now.

I just like the guy.

7/10

Quote. Joe Hill

"Yeah. P.T. Barnum would probably make scientists buy a ticket. He' show it next to a two-headed goat and a fat woman with a beard, and it wouldn't be special anymore. You ever notice that? Because everything at the circus is special, nothing is special? If I could walk on a tightrope, even a little, you'd think I was the most amazing boy you knew. Even if I was only two feet off the ground. But if I walked on a tightrope in the circus, and I was only two feet off the ground, people would shout for their money back."

from: By the Silver Water of Lake Champlain

Player One

by Douglas Coupland

Not my favorite Coupland.

I mean, it's fine and a quick read to boot (which is a given with Coupland, anyway), but somehow the story doesn't move much from the setup.

A group of strangers end up at a cocktails lounge near an airport when the world seems to fall into chaos. It starts - like these things usually do - with a sudden rise in the price of gas.

The group is diverse:
Rick, the barkeeper and a recovering alcoholic
Karen, a single mother who flew in for a (quite possibly) one night stand
Luke, a former preacher who took of with his perish's money
Rachel, a woman void of emotion or, really, any human traits
Player One, who is...uhm...also Rachel

The outside world may be disappearing for all we know. There is the occasional contact with Karen's daughter, but they cannot leave the lounge because there is a sniper outside. And why not?

I don't really see the point in all this.

5/10

The Plant (1)

by Stephen King

The (1) in the header spurs from my hope that there will eventually be more of Stephen King's serial novel The Plant.

The premise is - even by King standards - definitely out there. The potentially evil entity is, yes, a plant. A sort of ivy to be exact. The plant is sent by a disgruntled would be author to a publishing house that has originally accepted his book idea. However, after editor John Kenton receives the entire book and a collection of unsettling photos he contacts the police. Failing to find any prove of wrong doing, the police lets the matter go but Carlos, the man who sent the package, is understandable upset and out for revenge.

As if one potential madman, with some psychic assistance to boot, weren't enough...another wannabe author, recently escaped from an asylum also has a debt to settle with the small publishing house Zenith.

But the little plant sent by Carlos to cause mayhem actually empowers the small group of editors and - as soon as the plant takes hold - makes them better and potentially more successful at what they do. Of course, this being a King book (or part of one), there is the threat of horror just lurking around the corner.

The first taste of it comes when the two disgruntled authors break into the Zenith offices to lay low for a weekend before bringing the hammer down. When they run into each other, things comes to blow between the two and, with a little help from the thriving plant, neither makes it out alive.

And this is where we are left hanging....the bad guys dead, the publishing house on the brink of success (finally) and the plant just about to make things much more interesting.

....I really need this to continue. Soon-ish.

No One Belongs Here More Than You (Half a Review)

by Miranda July

I cannot properly judge this book as I have not finished it. The reason I didn't is that it seems overly obsessed with sex.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind reading about sex, if it fits the story. Here, not only are some stories almost exclusively about sex, even the ones that shouldn't have any need for bodily fluids include sexual encounters. One such shows up in a story about a woman looking for her missing dog. Why?

And to boot - despite all the humping and bumping - most of what I did read was boring.

Disappointing.

City of Thieves

by David Benioff

David Benioff is one of the producers (or, if you prefer, "makers") of the awesome TV version of Game of Thrones. Did you know he writes novels, too. Because I did not until I stumbled upon City of Thieves. And let me tell you, the man can write.

This is the (imagined) story of his grandfather, Lev Beniov, during the siege of Leningrad by the Nazis. After he gets separated from his group of friends he is thrown into a prison cell over night where he meets the larger-than-life Kolya. Kolya takes everything that happens in stride and basically keeps Lev's worries about what is about to happen to them in check.

Instead of - as they fear - being executed they are sent on a fool's errant by a commanding officer: find him a dozen eggs for his daughter's wedding cake within days. In the starving Russia, this is next to impossible. But, as their lives hang in the balance, they set off on an adventure in search of the eggs, anyway.

The characters are both likable in very different ways and eventually become friends - as indeed we as readers wish they will. But along with all the giddy approach of Kolya to what is happening all around him there is grave loss and devastation and, ultimately, great sadness.

Beautifully written and gripping from start to finish.

9/10

El Violi d’Auschwitz (The Auschwitz Violin)

by Maria Àngels Anglada

Many books have been written about concentration camps and the suffering of those imprisoned in them. Within the multitude of the stories told, some find slightly different angels to this, the probably biggest tragedy of humanity.

The Auschwitz Violin tells of Daniel, a young violin builder, who has a moment of bravery and speaks up on behalf of a violinist, who gets punished for making unpleasant music. Daniel knows that the musician was not to blame but the violin he was playing had a small tear in its body that caused the sound to be off.

After fixing the instrument he is then commissioned (or rather, ordered to) build a violin for a camp commandant. It is through this new/old job that he finds the courage and strength to carry on. It is also a way to find moments of peace and beauty in the everyday horrors.

This is a rather slender volume and quickly read. Nonetheless, very interesting.

7/10

The Fault in Our Stars

by John Green

However quick this read may have been, I cannot say that I actually really liked reading it. I was ready to give up, actually, when I was about a third into reading. Mostly, I continued because it was only another 200 pages or so and I just wanted to get it out of the way. I have been to dismissive of book lately, putting away a few after barely starting them, so I needed to finish one I found merely mediocre, for once.

I did not like Augustus. He just seemed so pretentious. That was my main issue with it. Hazel was fine. Sure, she was cynical and a bit of a smart ass, but at least she felt like a real person. Gus, however, I just wanted to smack over the head every time he would call her Hazel Grace (which was, like, every time except for that final confused message). There was a lot of eye rolling on my part. I only warmed toward him when he was dying, because the character started to get more like a real person, somehow.

Overall, a decent enough read. Surely head and shoulders above most other YA novels.

5/10

Night Shift (2)

by Stephen King

I always get through Stephen King's books very, very quickly because I can hardly make myself stop reading, so here is the continued review of the stories in Night Shift.

Trucks

The Deus Ex Machina is a recurring theme in Stephen King's (and indeed, many horror writers') stories. Here they take the shape of trucks and utility vehicles. It is quite a terrifying idea until everyone involved realizes that they run on gas and diesel and need humans to fill them up. Then it becomes an interesting possibility for a much bigger story. So much could be spun from this!
7/10

Sometimes They Come Back
The dead return! Here a trio of high school students torments a teacher until he rids himself of them through black magic. The boys are the ones that a long time ago killed the teacher's brother, when he himself was a little boy scared out of his wits.
7/10

Strawberry Spring
I love this story. I remember this being my favorite of the collection when I first read it. The reality of who goes around killing young people is devastating for the narrator of the story. So, so glad this held up that many years after first reading it.
9/10

The Ledge
This one was an obviously choice to be made into a film. And it was as one of the episodes in Cat's Eye.
8/10

The Lawnmower Man
Incredibly gross.
7/10

Quitters, Inc.
Smoking is bad for you. Stephen King would revisit the smokers again much later in the short story The Ten O'Clock People. Here, the subject was approached much more effectively, I feel.
8/10

I Know What You Need
A creepy stalker long before creepy stalkers were an everyday occurrence. Includes VooDoo, a seldom used theme in King's writing.
7/10

Children of the Corn
Another favorite, somewhat watered down by the subsequent film series. How could this have possibly spawned, what, four (?) films. That said, it could probably do with a remake, but could there ever be a creepier Isaac than in the first film?
8/10

The Last Rung on the Ladder
This is not quite a horror story. It is simply very sad.
7/10

The Man Who Loved Flowers
Not my favorite. Yes, blood is spilled but the lead up is more of a character study that seems to be going nowhere for the longest time. I guess they can't all be great, right?
5/10

One for the Road
In this we visit Jerusalem's Lot once again. As ever, there are a brave few men that try to do right by the desperate stranger from New Jersey, against their better judgment. Bonus: creepy kid.
7/10

The Woman in the Room
So sad. Possibly autobiographical?
7/10

Gabriel García Márquez, 1927-2014

Gabriel García Márquez, Nobel laureate writer, dies aged 87

Night Shift (1)

by Stephen King

I am 200 pages into reading Stephen King's first collection of short stories, Night Shift, and would like to go through the stories I have read so far.

But first....

Let's talk, you and I. Let's talk about fear.

The foreword to the collection was probably the first piece Mr. King has written that felt to be talking to me on a personal level. This is, actually, one of my favorite pieces of writing of his. Because it makes so much sense in its reasoning about why horror fiction works on us and why it is okay to love it, too. The fears we have appear to be universal and there is something very soothing in that.

The thing under my bed waiting to grab my ankle isn't real. I know that, and I also know that if I'm careful to keep my foot under the covers, it will never be able to grab my ankle.

Jerusalem's Lot
This is something of a prequel to 'Salem's Lot. It goes way back in the timeline and calls out the thing/worm/Satan (?) that has lured in generations of one family and is only talked about in whispers by the townsfolk, who make sure to avoid the place. Would have worked nicely as an intro to King's second novel, but works just fine as a stand-alone story.
6/10

Graveyard Shift
The particular terror in this story is one shared by many - that of rats. Vast numbers of rats and even one of dimensions we would rather try not to think about. Satisfyingly, the anti-hero (one we do not care for even though we may cheer for him when taking one the foreman) gets his just dessert.
7/10

Night Surf
This never worked for me. The evil is much to subtle and only a very distant backdrop to the story. A type of flu wipes out most of earth's population (a motive King revisits much more effectively in The Stand) but we are left with a group of sullen teenagers on a beach.
3/10

I Am the Doorway
Written in a time when space was still much more of a mystery than it is today, when we don't even have to actually go there to learn of distant planets. The belated effect space travel has on the principal character, a former astronaut from a Venus mission, is very creepy and does not quite fit the type of alien invasion we all imagine to happen any day now.
8/10

The Mangler
Nope, not buying it. Gross it is but even for King standards this is way out there.
3/10

The Boogeyman
Here the other classic monster (beside the one hiding under the bed) is the one hiding in the closet. Nice twist.
7/10

Grey Matter
Oh, gross. The dangers of slightly off beer. Or maybe the dangers of alcohol in general. Or maybe no underlying message at all.
7/10

Battleground
Goliath (the hit man) is taken down by an entire (toy) army of Davids. The horror!
7/10

The Ice Storm

by Rick Moody

One thing I do very rarely is read a book after I have seen a film based on it. I read The Ice Storm mostly because of the film, though. Because I really, really liked the film and - even though tragedy strikes at one point - the story does not live off of surprising twist and turns.

It is about two families, more or less neighbors, in the affluent town of New Canaan, set in the early years of the 1970's. The people living their are really to upper class to really have participated in the hippie revolutions on the 60's but still fancy some sort of sexual adventure. Here, this manifests itself in a key party, set on the night of very low temperatures. But not all participants in exchange of partners are as open as they initially fancy themselves to be. The encounters described are not happy and/or exciting ones, in the end.

With the parents preoccupied with their very hip parties, their children are off to chase their own adventures, some even sexual ones. With all the relationship problems finally breaking open for the Hood and Williams family, the ultimate devastation comes when Mike, one of the Williams' sons, dies of electrocution while resting on a guardrail that is struck by a live wire that has been downed by the storm.

This captures the 70's feeling wonderfully and effortlessly, it is something of a pleasant surprise for me. I have once before read Rick Moody, his short story collection Demonology, that left me somewhat underwhelmed.

Do watch the film, as well, if you get a chance.

They were transfixed, the Hoods and the Williamses, by the spectacle of a lost future. It brought them together and it drove them apart but maybe this parting was inevitable, anyway.

8/10

Stone Bruises

by Simon Beckett

My first Simon Beckett. I have to be honest, I expected more. Sure, the writing was solid enough but the story left a lot to be desired for.

First, I didn't find any of the characters particularly likable. And I couldn't really relate to anything that Sean, the central character, did or didn't do - be it in France or in the interwoven back story in London. Also, through most of the book nothing much happens. The days simply go by and I didn't get any more curious about whatever happened to Louis.

Then in the the last chapter, everything happens. And we are talking the entire history of the French family including murder and incest. Couldn't that have been spread out more? Maybe whatever happened to Louis could have come out earlier and added at least some tension to the story. Or, some more tension than the whole Gretchen angle...whatever that was supposed to be, we never quite know why she does what she does and then appears to forget about it completely. Maybe she was just being a teenager (with all that that entails).

Might well be my last Simon Beckett.

6/10

Open City

by Teju Cole

I expected this to be more about New York somehow. From the blurp on the back I get that there was going to be a lot of philosophizing and memories of childhood. But the main protagonist takes lengthy walks in New York, so...

It is a very pleasant read, anyway.

A big part of the book is set in Brussels, where the encounters become very highbrow and conversations (with someone working at an internet cafe, where all the big brained, aware people obviously work) turn to the Israel/Palestine situation. This all feels a little to constructed and unnatural.

Then, towards the end there is a rape story that seems out of place with the rest of the book and I don't quite know what to do with. It also remains unanswered and without further comment.

6/10

Ghosting

There is a lengthy article on the Site of the London Book Review by Andrew O'Hagan, the would be ghost writer of Julian Assange's autobiography that never was.

Here's a short excerpt:

He’s not a details guy. None of them is. What they love is the big picture and the general fight. They love the noise and the glamour, the history, the spectacle, but not the fine print. That is why they released so many cables so quickly: for impact. And there’s a good argument to support that. But, even today, three years later, the cables have never had the dedicated attention they deserve. They made a splash and then were left languishing. I always hoped someone would do a serious editing job, ordering them country by country, contextualising each one, providing a proper introduction, detailing each injustice and each breach, but Julian wanted the next splash and, even more, he wanted to scrap with each critic he found on the internet. As for the book, he kept putting it off.

This article confirms every prejudice I have towards the guy. As I have always maintained, Assange is not the messiah and, sadly, it has become less about what WikiLeaks did and has achieved and more about the celebrity that is Julian Assange.

Archangel

by Robert Harris

Robert Harris writes the kind of books that Dan Brown wishes he could write.

Both authors have the same basic outlines, often centering around a man in some scientific/researching capacity that gets drawn into an adventure beyond his wildest imagination. All this embedded in settings or events of historic significance.

Here, the hero is 'Fluke' Kelso, historian and writer. The setting is Russia and the historic anchor to the adventure Kelso gets thrown into is Comrade Stalin. Or rather, a notebook of his that has been hidden after his death. Our hero is the one that gets the crucial information and help along the way to recover the notebook and all that that involves.

If that alone weren't exciting enough (and it is!), there is a nice twist at the end when he learns that not only him locating the book but everything that led up to it - his being in Russia in the first place for example - and everything that comes from it - media frenzy - has been orchestrated.

Of the books by Robert Harris that I have read (in total three) this is not my favorite (which is Pompeii) but it is definitely on par with The Ghost.

Next time, instead of reading another mediocre Dan Brown book, pick up Robert Harris. Trust me.

7/10

The Librarian, His 'Stache, and the Most Dangerous Book on Earth

Here is an article you might want to read over at mental_floss. Enjoy.

Fury

by Salman Rushdie

The story of Fury is that of Professor Malik Solanka, who one day up and left his wife and young son in England and moved to New York City. There, he walks the streets, constantly annoyed, drinks too much and has frequent blackouts. While he is there, a trio of girls is murdered and he cannot be 100 % sure that he didn't do it with all the blackouts and all.

His only actual friend is Jack, a former journalist, who eventually forms his own tragic bond to the killings. Then there is Mila Milo, who takes Malik - whom she recognizes as the creator as Little Brain, a doll who has all but taken over world domination - on as a 'project'. There is also Neela, a stunning woman affecting everyone around her, who is Jack's girlfriend and then Malik's girlfriend and, later, a revolutionary in her tiny, shaken home country.

The title does not only refer to Malik's state of mind, but also to the mythical Furies, that occasionally make an appearance in the book.

Doña Gio was still singing, but the screaming of the Furies momentarily drowned her voice. The hungry goddesses were beating around both their heads, feeding on their rage.

The furies eventually take the forms of the women in Malik's life - his lover Neela, his by then business partner Mila and his estranged wife Eleanor, who all show up in his bedroom at the same time.

Salmen Rushdie really is a brilliant writer and this is one of his finest works, in my opinion.

8/10

In Athens the Furies were thought to be Aphrodite's sister. Beauty and vengeful wrath, as Homer knew, sprang from the selfsame source. That was one story. Hesiod, however, said that the Furies were born of Earth and Air, and that their siblings included Terror, Strife, Lies, Vengeance, Intemperance, Altercation, Fear and Battle. In those days they avenged blood crimes, pursuing those who harmed (especially) their mothers - Orestes, long pursued by them after he killed bloody-handed Clytemnestra, knew all about that. The leirion, or blue iris, sometimes placated the Furies, but Orestes wore no flowers in his hair. Even the bow of horn that the Pythoness, the Delphic Oracle, gave him to repel their assaults proved to be of little use. "Serpent-haired, god-headed, bat-winged," the Erinnyes hounded him for the rest of his life, denying him peace.

The Interpretation of Murder

by Jed Rubenfeld

This is a murder mystery woven around Sigmund Freud's only visit to the United States in 1909.

Dr. Freud, accompanied by Carl Jung and Sándor Ferenczi, is invited to hold a lecture at Clark University. The week before the three spend in New York City, taken car of Dr. Younger. It is from Younger's perspective that the story of the book is told.

Nora Acton has been attacked in her parent's house and lost not only her memory of the event but also her voice. Therefore, an arrangement is made for a psychoanalytical treatment - on suggestion by Freud, Younger is to be treating her. The attack appears to be connected to one, possibly two previous murders. As the case gets ever more complicated, almost everyone making an appearance in the book appears to have their own agenda.

There is also a plot unfolding with the aim to discredit Freud and have Clark University cancel his appearance and also establishing Jung as the authority on psychoanalysis.

As explained in the author's note, the case is of course fictional but many of the people in the book are historical figures. Also, although the timeline has been changed, some of the conversations involving Freud are reported to have taken place, but not during his visit to New York. The split of Jung and Freud is also rooted in history but occurred a few years after the book is set.

The story is very dense and seems to be hurling off in different directions, at first, with apparent suspects having credible alibis and the attacks turning out to not quite be what they initially looked like.

As for the European visitors, everything Freud adds to assist Younger in his analysis of Nora comes back to incestuous desires and Oedipal complexes. And I mean everything. But he still comes off much more likable than Jung, who is petty and jealous of Freud's standing and goes slightly off the rails in the course of the story.

Quite interesting read.

6/10

Generation A

by Douglas Coupland

The book is set in the near future in a world where bees are extinct. Then, five people get stung by bees shortly after the other.

The five are:

Zach, Mahaska County, Iowa
Zach is stung while drawing a giant penis into a cornfield during a drought. This happens during a video chat he has with another guy. The video, of course, goes viral. Zach is also naked at the time, which makes for interesting viewing.

Samantha, Palmerston North, Wanganui, New Zealand
Sam is stung while on contact with a young woman from Madrid. The two are making an Earth Sandwich - they take a photo of a slice of bread lying on the earth from their opposite sides of the world - which is apparently a big thing in New Zealand.

Julien, 12th Arrondissement, Paris, France
Julien is stung right after he is thrown out of World of Warcraft after having played forever. Julien is not only an arrogant Parisian (as one would expect), he is also more interested in video games than he is in school (of course, he attends the Sorbonne).

Diana, North Bay, Ontario, Canada
Diana, who suffers from Tourette's Syndrom and has a crush on her pastor, is bitten after a not-so-nice scene involving said pastor, his wife and a dog beating neighbor.

Harj, Trincomalee, Sri Lanka
Harj, who works in a call center for Abercrombie & Fitch, is stung while giving an interview about his "celebrity room tone" (silence supposedly recorded in the rooms of famous people).

The five - referring to themselves as the Wonka children, get picked out of their familiar surrounded and spend the next few weeks incarcerated individually in a room without window or any kind of destruction. There, blood is taken frequently, they only communicate with a mechanical voice and are fed jell-o-esque food.

When they all go back to their respective homes, their former houses are uninhabitable, because they have been checked, stripped, taken apart and crowds hang around in front of them, trying to catch a glimpse or - better yet - harvest some of their famous DNA. Also, the prescription drug Solon pops up all over the place. It makes people content with being by themselves and has a 100% addiction rate. Only the five are allergic to it.

They disperse into different directions but are once again picked up and - now together - brought to a remote island, inhabited only by a small tribe. There with them is Serge, someone that has been monitoring Julien after he got stung. Serge urges them to tell stories, something that he passes off as a scientific test. They soon learn, however, that Serge has apparently gone rogue and they have been used in experiments connected with Solon. Specifically, a protein that only they possess and that apparently is what attracted the bees to them in the first place, can be used as a basis for the production of Solon and its antidote.

In the end, the small tribe gets hooked on Solon, the five get the truth out of Serge and they flee into the wilderness, while they start becoming more like a hive the more time they spend together.

Classic Coupland (read: weird).

7/10